Upgraded telemetry technology helped Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water manage an unprecedented volume of alarms during a major weather event, writes Julian Booth, SCADA service delivery manager, Ovarro
On 7-8 December 2024, Storm Darragh brought heavy rain and 93mph winds to much of Wales, leaving 95,000 homes without power and communities severely impacted by flooding, fallen trees, infrastructure damage and major travel disruption.
With a rare Met Office red warning in place, teams from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) worked to maintain and restore water supplies to many customers, working with energy companies, police and local authorities in a co-ordinated response.
During this period, the utility’s operations resource centre responded to more than 8,000 alarms – four times the usual number – with more than 80 operational assets losing power.
Two months prior, in September 2024, DCWW’s SCOPE SCADA telemetry system – from technology provider Ovarro – had undergone a major software upgrade to improve service and enhance stability.
The updated SCOPE system maintained strong performance throughout Storm Darragh, managing an unprecedented volume of alarms and data, while providing a reliable service to hundreds of additional users logged into the system.
The solution
Ovarro’s SCOPE – Secure Configurable Online Process Executive – is a supervisory system that allows companies to monitor a range of assets and track alarms in real-time and includes configuration tools for dataloggers and remote telemetry units (RTUs).
DCWW has been a SCOPE user for many years, with Ovarro also supplying the utility with a range of RTUs and loggers to feed data into the system. These devices collect data from thousands of assets across Wales, including treatment works, pumping stations, storage tanks and distribution networks.
The technology allows control rooms to track key parameters like water levels, pressure, flow rates, tank levels, pump performance and water quality, while flagging up potential issues in real time.
During a severe weather event, it is usual for a water company telemetry system to receive thousands more alarms and alerts than usual, flagging up critical events such as power loss, pump failures, flood and pollution risk and water quality issues.
In May 2024, DCWW and Ovarro began the process of updating its SCOPE system from version 1.32 to version 2.3 – a major task involving 600-700+ software changes. During the preparation period, a series of tests, risk assessments and governance checks were conducted by both organisations, before the new system was fully migrated in September.
While delivering overall stability, scalability and security improvements, the upgrade has allowed the bolt-on of additional software products and provided new features, such as enhanced API integration. API integration is the process of using APIs – application programme interfaces – to connect multiple software applications, to facilitate the secure transfer of data.
The upgrade also enabled an increased user load, meaning more individuals can be logged onto the system at any one time, without impacting overall performance. This is a key benefit, particularly felt during extreme weather events.
On a normal day, some 200-300 people from business areas such as operations, central control rooms and customer services could be logged into SCOPE via a computer or mobile device. During an event such as Storm Darragh, user numbers could double or triple, as wider parts of the business access the system for status updates.
Throughout Storm Darragh, Welsh Water’s updated SCOPE system managed 8,000 alarms – four times the usual number. The system performed successfully under the significant load, enabling operational teams to manage the incident via the information it was relaying back. This capability allowed users to make operational decisions about critical assets with confidence, reliably supporting the wider co-ordinated response to the storm.
The successful outcome is the result of a trusted partnership between Ovarro and Welsh Water, and close collaboration throughout the software update process, which took many weeks of careful planning.
As a software product, SCOPE is under continual development to meet the changing demands of the sector. Significant rainfall is a key test of the system – and one that is becoming increasingly prevalent as climate change brings more weather extremes.
